Gold prices closed at +$16.40 on hopes that the Fed will cut interest rates three times this year.

New York gold futures closed positive on Monday (March 25), with the market continuing to take positive cues from the US Federal Reserve sending signals to cut interest rates three times this year, while investors watch the announcement.Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index (PCE) PCE) is the inflation data that the Fed focuses on.

but, COMEX Gold Futures (COMEX) Delivery period is in April. The price of an ounce rose by $16.40, or 0.76%, to close at $2,176.40 per ounce.Spot gold Added 0.5% to $2,174.51 per ounce.

The market has returned to giving weight to the Fed factor. After deciding to keep short-term interest rates at 5.25-5.50% at the meeting on Wednesday, March 20, and maintaining the official interest rate forecast (Dot Plot) that indicated an interest rate cut 3 times this year.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed this during a press conference after the meeting that day. “Recent US inflation numbers have come in higher than expected. This has not changed the Fed's view that inflation will gradually slow to its 2% target. We believe Fed rates are at their highest levels of the cycle. If the economy develops as we expect on a broad Broadly, it would be appropriate for the Fed to start cutting interest rates this year.

Meanwhile, investors are watching the release of the US Personal Consumption Expenditures Index for February on Friday. To assess inflation trends and the direction of the Federal Reserve's interest rates.

Analysts expect the headline personal consumption expenditures index, which includes food and energy categories, to rise 2.4% year-on-year in February. After also rising by 2.4% in January. The core personal consumption expenditures index, which does not include food and energy categories, is expected to rise 2.8% in February year-on-year. After a 2.8% increase in January.